What is being a package car driver like?

[QKRSTKR]

I hired in when I was 18, full time at 25. Top rate by 27. Package job has changed a lot though. When I started it was easy. If I had it to do all over again I would have gone to college or tech. Degree. Married when I was 22. Couldn't afford both of us and we paid for her to go to college. Thought I'll be making $27-28 bucks an hour at 27, not all bad.

Now I'm in feeders and I really like it. Not the same nonsense you put up with in packages. Still some though.

 

[HomeDelivery]

if you're still there by peak season 2014, become a driver's helper

see how he juggles all those NDA stops first, then the regular business/residential stops, then squeeze in the pickup windows in the PM.... & if you can do what he or she is doing w/out a helper, then proceed to sign up at 21

 

[ManInBrown]

Chicks dig the browns

 

[bleedinbrown58]

Chicks dig the browns

True story...lol

 

[jumpman23]

Get your degree in a technical or business field.
Go driving and see if you like it.
By the fourth year of driving, make your decision.

Excellent advice

 

[jumpman23]

If you want to make a lot of money but absolutely have no life at all during the week, and have your body broken down by the time your 35 to 40 years old go for it. That's the reality of it, that aint sugar coating it. Get ready to get home between 8 and 10pm almost every night of the week. If you ever wanted to know what it feels like to be a slave and be in prison most of the day and night go driving lol. If you do go driving, follow these 3 steps. 1. Don't have any kids because youll never see them and be a deadbeat dad who never sees them and its all on your wife, which in my opinion isn't fair to her. 2. Live at home as long as you can and or rent a place for cheap so you can save a lot of money so you can giddy up out of here, because physically youll be lucky to do this job for 10 to 15 because it has gotten so hard. 3. Stuff your 401k or IRA whichever you choose to the max every week and try to be debt free. This job aint no joke son. If you do 10 to 15 years you can get a pension from here and maybe start another career where you can get a pension from there also. Its all bout business all the time youngblood. The new generation of drivers will never see full retirement, that's what the company wants. Their already trying to break down the guys and gals who have 10 to 15 years in and a lot of years left. Anybody who thinks its a coincidence with how their busting out routes and killing drivers with stop counts and more and more work, you are right. That's their plan whether they say it or not, and if nobody believes that they are foolish.

 

[brownmonster]

If you want to make a lot of money but absolutely have no life at all during the week, and have your body broken down by the time your 35 to 40 years old go for it. That's the reality of it, that aint sugar coating it. Get ready to get home between 8 and 10pm almost every night of the week. If you ever wanted to know what it feels like to be a slave and be in prison most of the day and night go driving lol. If you do go driving, follow these 3 steps. 1. Don't have any kids because youll never see them and be a deadbeat dad who never sees them and its all on your wife, which in my opinion isn't fair to her. 2. Live at home as long as you can and or rent a place for cheap so you can save a lot of money so you can giddy up out of here, because physically youll be lucky to do this job for 10 to 15 because it has gotten so hard. 3. Stuff your 401k or IRA whichever you choose to the max every week and try to be debt free. This job aint no joke son. If you do 10 to 15 years you can get a pension from here and maybe start another career where you can get a pension from there also. Its all bout business all the time youngblood. The new generation of drivers will never see full retirement, that's what the company wants. Their already trying to break down the guys and gals who have 10 to 15 years in and a lot of years left. Anybody who thinks its a coincidence with how their busting out routes and killing drivers with stop counts and more and more work, you are right. That's their plan whether they say it or not, and if nobody believes that they are foolish.

So you would recommend it then?

 

[jumpman23]

Honestly I wouldn't. This job blowz dude. It used to be you got paid like a mother and got your whooped couple days a week. Nowadays you getting whooped like a dogg all day everyday and got to deal with their harassment and kindergarten cop 24-7 and are out all night. Cant wait to get the heck out of here. Hate this freakin job and most of the drivers would agree.

 

[jumpman23]

The job is super cool but with the amount of work on every route and the constant harassment makes the job suck so bad and the super late hours don't help. Just being completely honest about it.

 

[brownmonster]

It's not that bad everywhere.

 

[jumpman23]

Maybe not everywhere but 90 percent of the country is. I love the pay but I hate the job lol.

 

[scisector9]

I haven't been at brown too long. I was hired off the street to drive 9 months ago. I am no veteran and dont have any comparison to what ups was before they went public. But here is my story and personal experience thus far:

I went to college to be a park ranger to do something I loved. I graduated in 2006 and couldn't find work in my field locally so I managed a pizza hut I worked at during college fresh our of college. Recession hit and work with my degree was even harder to come by and starting salary most places was around 30k starting. Not enough to support my young family on. Left pizza hut to drive commercially for a laundry company as a commission based route sales rep. Made good money had good sales etc. Left that company to come to ups driving. Starting out it was a 15k a year pay hit.

Why did I come to ups at 30 to drive? Well there aren't too many gigs out there that offer what ups can (with my experience and education anyway). Pension free (for now) health insurance, and a 90k a year salary. Yes its hard work and long hours but I've always been an outdoor guy. I would bore easily in a cubicle.

Compared to the other gigs I've had ups isn't bad. No weekends holidays off and no politics and honest practices (again at my building). I appreciate a company that has straight forward honest policies. Yeah we get screwed on dispatch sometimes but I would say where I am the average in building time is around 6 besides peak. Ran 4 routes last week and was off at 530 630 6 7 and 545. Not bad. And I'm not on 9.5 list.

To sum up my post for me personally I am happy to work at ups and proud of the work I do. I hurt sometimes but every gig I've had has involved long hours on my feet or delivering things. Unless as other posters have said you research careers and find out what you want and need out of a career be careful with school and expectations. The American dream is changing and most companies are demanding more out of their employees. Hope that helps.

Good luck! Cheers!

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[Docparcel79]

I'd say do it while your young. There is excellent advice in recent posts you should take into consideration. The pay is excellent (just barely graduated HS ) and making 90k. I'm 35 married with two boys, and hardly see them grow up. The stress on my wife right now is hitting the roof. It's really a tough job for a family man. As for the hours, plan on getting home on average of 8pm. Once and awhile you'll see 6:30. Best of luck on your decision. Us men and women in Brown are a whole different breed.

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[Quigley]

Go into feeders. Drive from point A to point B. Turn around drive home. No headaches, no management, no hassles. $100,000 a year. I drive at night and see my kids from 2 PM to 7 PM daily.

 

[JL 0513]

Of course it depends on the center but the hours may be a bit over stated based on typical days. 8 pm every night is extreme. For us, that only happens in December. It can depend on your commute as well.

For the last few months I haven't been getting enough work. Today I punched out under 8 hours. And I took all 80 minutes of break time. Same with Friday. It's been hard to get more than 30 minutes overtime a day.

Even if we as drivers were to average 1 hour a day OT, which I think is more typical of reality, that's not significantly different than other jobs/lifestyles. Big deal, we work 5,6,7 hours more a week than a "typical" 40 hour a week job. We also make $50/hr for each of those hours. Not all jobs are 8-5 which is what people like to think of when they think of greener pastures. Jobs cover 24 hours of the clock. People say "become a doctor"? Most doctors have lousy hours, or worse, on call. Unless you open a private office with somewhat controlled appointments, most doctors work in hospitals that run 24 hours a day.

Millions of fathers and mothers deal with varying hours. Some get out early, which usually means an early start. Remember, we start around 9 am. Some have to work all night, perhaps in retail.

We also get weekends off. Lots of parents have to work weekends. So the reality is, is that it's very reasonable to have a good family life as a driver. Lots of drivers here have been driving so long that they forget that many other work schedules are much worse. Not to mention the growing amount of people that have to hold down 2 jobs to get by. As a newer driver, I can tell you this is the most pleasant job I've had in my working life (19 years). One of the few jobs I've had with a fairly regular schedule too. There's 10's of millions of jobs where you have to check your work schedule each week because it completely changes every week. Why are we complaining?

 

[Brownslave688]

Honestly I wouldn't. This job blowz dude. It used to be you got paid like a mother and got your whooped couple days a week. Nowadays you getting whooped like a dogg all day everyday and got to deal with their harassment and kindergarten cop 24-7 and are out all night. Cant wait to get the heck out of here. Hate this freakin job and most of the drivers would agree.

Just had a driver tell me today that a sup laid into him for just this.

I guess people were asking how to apply and stuff and if likes his job. He said no find something else to do. The sup said you can't tell people that.

 

[PT Car Washer]

One of the guys in the hub said something like "run while you can" to a tour group going through one night. Not sure if he got fired or not but words were said to him.

 

[Anonymous 11]

I got to disagree. The kid said he doesn't know what he wants to do. Going to college with no plan can leave him or his parents in a boat load of debt with nothing to show for it.

I think a lot of 17 year olds don't know what they are going to do. That's why the young bucks need the 14 to 18 points bucks like us to give them some words of wisdom.

 

[PT Car Washer]

I think a lot of 17 year olds don't know what they are going to do. That's why the young bucks need the 14 to 18 points bucks like us to give them some words of wisdom.

They never listen and do just the opposite to what you tell them. Then go run to their mommies.

 

[Brownslave688]

Yeah it's a hard situation. I'm not going to lie to my customers.

If ups wants us to speak better about te company maybe they should treat us better.

There is a place here in town that I have never heard a bad word about. We are talking swings and slides in break rooms. Organized food fights. Pool tables air hockey and all kinds of other stuff. The people that work there honestly don't feel like they work when they are there.